Middle, a dog standing between your legs, facing out

How to teach a dog middle starts with your dog behind you. Hold a treat between your knees, let your dog follow it forward through your legs, and pay when its head pokes out facing the way you face. Repeat until it walks through on its own, then say the word first and build a short hold.

Where should you stand to teach middle?

Your feet set the doorway. Stand with them apart enough that your dog can pass without squeezing, and the rest of the lesson gets simpler. What counts as wide depends on the dog:

• For a small dog, crouch or kneel so the gap is at its level.
• For a medium dog, a stance a little wider than your shoulders is a good start.
• For a big dog, stand wide, and consider a wall at your back so there is only one way to go.

A wall is optional, though it spares you from chasing a dog that loops around. Whichever stance you choose, keep it the same for the first lessons. Middle is a position, and your legs are the frame around it, so a frame that keeps changing makes the picture hard to read.

Middle belongs with the tricks that build on following your hand, since the first job is a nose that goes where the treat goes.

How do you lure your dog through your legs?

Begin with your dog behind you. Reach one hand back between your knees with a piece in it, let the nose find it, and draw it forward slowly. Your dog follows through the gap, and the nose appears in front of your knees.

Pay when the nose is just past your knees and the head faces the way you face. That pay point is the picture you are building. Do not wait for the whole body to clear. Paying with the head out marks the exact spot where middle begins, and the rest of the body arrives behind it.

Repeat until your dog walks into the gap with very little lure. Then shorten the reach, so the treat appears closer to your knees and not far behind them. The path is familiar by now, and the hand turns from a lure into a pointer.

If your dog goes around you instead of through, close off the way around. Put your back to a sofa or a wall, and the gap between your legs becomes the only open route. A short trip through is easy to choose when the long way is blocked.

Where does the treat go once your dog is in middle?

From above, at the head, while your dog stands facing out. Bring the piece down to the mouth instead of bending your dog toward it. A second piece for still being there is the early version of a hold, and it costs you nothing but a free hand.

Ending the position is its own small skill. Some handlers finish middle by letting the dog step forward and out. Others cue the dog to back out through the legs, which is the same movement taught in the back up guide. Whichever ending you like, use the same one through the early lessons.

Can your dog walk with you in middle?

Yes, slowly. Take one small step, pay in position, then take another. Slow and short is the right speed for the early rounds, since the position is easy to lose the moment your legs start moving.

If the position slips, shorten the walk. A single step in position is a round worth paying. Falling out after a few steps means the walk asked for more than the early rounds had built. Go back to one step, pay it, and add a step only when the single one is easy.

Walking in middle also puts the word to work. Say it before your first step, so the cue comes ahead of the movement. Keep your steps even and your hands quiet, and let the pieces come from above, at the head.

Walking rounds pay in a steady line, and the cheddar bites break small for that. Not a complete diet, our listing adds; they are a treat.